We all want to be different, if not special. We want to stand out from the crowd and shine so that others can see us. In a effort to attain that individualality some turn to the arts, religion, and education. Some others think that to be an individual you must eschew community. It seems paradoxical and oxymoronic that a individual would be deeply tied to a community. But the strongest of individuals are always members of strong communities.
To put this whole conversation into a very personal sense and explain the meaning of the title as a youth I didn't have alot of positive role models that I connected with. It wasn’t untill I started to educate myself both academically and religiously that I started to form a idea of what a strong individual should be. Before all this though I equated being a individual with being alone. Lonely people arent usually happy. I know I wasn’t.
While I think being comfortable with solitude is a important part of individualality, being lonely isn’t the same thing. Loneliness breeds unhappiness and unhappiness breeds insecurity and misplaced aggression. When your idea of individualality involves being alone it breeds the same problems. You become aggressive without a aggressor and passionate for nothing of true value. Being rooted in a community gives you a strong foundation on which to build yourself. When you are part of a community its because you share beliefs or morals. It's essential to find people who help you be better. No man is a island has never been truer or more easily provable then in todays pandemic.
People are Isolated and removed from the support structures that they had been accustomed to. Even things like jobs or church gathers have been affected. The amount of human to human interaction has drastically decreased. People are depressed, record numbers of suicides point to the importance that being near to others plays in our mental health. But what does this have to do with being a individual? It ties back into community and how a community supports you while you support it. It’s alot easier to survive these days when you have friends alongside you. Especially a intellectually diverse friend group.
Communities should be built with multiple tyoes of people. The irregularity of people helps to build a diverse group of people capable of withstanding trial and tribulation. But it also makes it easier to make friends and build strong relationships within the community. That gives you a foot up on learning about the world. Different people have different perspectives and world views that further diversify your own. A more diverse outlook makes more opportunities appear. Especially where you may have felt there were none.
There is strength in numbers, but when you're better the group is stronger as well. Its a mutually beneficial relationship. To be a individual who has strng ties with community.
Till next time.
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